


Surprise Me

by Meowser_Clancy



Series: Jimel Family AU [4]
Category: Ghost Whisperer
Genre: Conception, F/M, Love, Vacation, lake, surprise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 11:34:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7359607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meowser_Clancy/pseuds/Meowser_Clancy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Third in my conception series. Jim wants to go on vacation. Melinda isn't sure. Three-parter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ghostwhispererfangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostwhispererfangirl/gifts).



"We never do this," Melinda said, crossing her arms.

"I know we don't, which is why we should," Jim said. "Listen, I talked to my friend, he's willing to lend us his cabin."

"Because that's always worked so well in the past," Melinda said. "This time, we're going to have small children with us."

"We'll be fine," he soothed. "They'll be fine. Aiden and Ben need some toughening up anyway."

She rolled her eyes. "They're nine and four, Jim," she said. "And what about Lee? Doesn't she need toughening up?"

He grinned, looking at the one year and three months old daughter in her playpen. "My little princess never needs to toughen up," he said. "I'm going to protect her."

"From her husband?" Melinda said.

"Are you insinuating that we'd raise our daughter to have poor judgment in spouses?" Jim asked.

"I'm saying that girls need to be able to protect themselves," Melinda said.

"Well, I agree, but that doesn't mean she needs to be toughened," Jim said. "What are we even arguing about? I'm confused. I think the real argument here is that you don't want to go camping," Jim said. "And I don't know why."

"July is turning out to be a busy period for the shop," Melinda said. "And this is the first time in a while that I've been able to put full concentration on it."

"I know," he said. "But the summer is beginning and...and I just want to get away. Have you guys to myself. When was the last time I got more than a few days off from the hospital? It's a week, Mel. I got a whole week."

He looked troubled, something that Melinda forced herself to not notice.

"Why...why aren't you happy about this?" He finally said, show real vulnerability, folding his arms.

"Because I don't like camping," Melinda said. "Because you sprang this on me with absolutely no warning. Because you're acting like you're the only one with a schedule and a career here. What if I can't just pack up and go? What if Delia can't handle things at the shop?"

"Then for god's sake just hire a teenager to help for a few days," Jim said. "I bet Ned would like the extra money."

"Ned has a job," Melinda said. "He's twenty-six, Jim, not eighteen anymore."

Jim rubbed his forehead. "I didn't realize that I was being...that I was assuming things that weren't so...aren't so."

"You can't just decide things for us, Jim," Melinda said. "Not when it's us."

She swept from the room, heading to the stairs.

He felt too heartsick to follow her, still not comprehending when the turn from playful surprise to worst idea ever had happened. Or why.

* * *

Melinda felt as moody as hell that night, snapping at Aiden when he asked if he could play with his friends after dinner, and not letting Benny have seconds of dessert.

Jim finally entered the kitchen as she was washing the dessert dishes, clearing his throat.

"We have to talk about this," he said softly, folding his arms and staring at her.

She tossed her head. "I don't want to talk while the kids are still up," she said, grabbing the roasting pan that had been soaking after dinner, furiously attacking it with a tough sponge.

"They're playing in the other room," he said, dismissing it. "Mel, we have to get to the root of this."

Since he couldn't see her, she let the threatening tear in her eye roll down her cheek. "I don't want to get to the root of it," she said simply. "Not right now."

"We're supposed to leave in two days," he said flatly.

"Which is why you should have mentioned this before now," she snapped. "Seriously, Jim. This isn't fair."

"Did you have something planned for those days?" He asked. "Then I'm sorry. And...and we don't have to spend the whole week at the cabin. That's fine. We can just spend a day or two up there. Is that...is that more manageable?"

His voice was soft and tender, and he was moving closer to her; she could sense it. He was going to be nice and he was going to make her forget everything she'd been mad about but her raging hormones wouldn't let that happen and neither would her occasional, but very lethal, stubbornness.

"I don't know," she said, throwing the brush down and whirling to face him. "I don't know, Jim, because I made dinner today and you just waltzed in here with grandiose plans that I haven't been able to concentrate on at all in the three seconds of alone time I've had since you popped that on me."

She was pointing at his chest and she'd entered a dangerous territory, she could tell, because Jim really had done nothing so terrible as to merit this reaction and if she didn't tone it down, they would actually be fighting because his feelings would be hurt and god, she didn't want to hurt him but she was so freaking tired.

Jim was stepping closer, opening his mouth to speak and she prayed to god that he'd still be in his patient stage, ready to calm her down, because she swore that she'd respond reasonably next time, but he just had to give her one more chance.

"Mom, dad?"

They both whirled to face Aiden, standing in the doorway.

"Hey, baby," Melinda greeted, toning her voice down immediately.

"What's up?" Jim asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as though if he didn't, he'd be putting them on her instead. As if she'd be in his arms, being kissed out of her life, or at least out of this strange mood.

"I have a question," Aiden said very seriously.

"What is it?" Melinda asked, washing her hands and drying them off, done with the dishes.

"What's hooking up?"

Jim's eyes widened and he laughed a little, his hands sliding out of his pockets to cross over his chest again.

"Where...where did you hear that?" Jim asked.

"At school," he said innocently.

"Oh god," Melinda muttered. "Okay, Aiden. Hooking up is...a bad idea and something that I have never done and something you should never do."

"Huh?" Aiden asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but, um, just listen for a minute," Melinda said. "Hooking up is...is kissing a random person, that you don't like and don't love and maybe don't even know very well."

"But I thought kisses were good," Aiden said.

"They are," Melinda sighed. "But kisses mean something. They mean 'I love you'. You know, I always say I love you when I kiss you good night because that's what kissing means. They show people how much you love them. So...So hooking up is bad and a bad idea because you are saying that you love someone and you don't, so it's a lie, and a bad idea because it hurts. It hurts you and it hurts the other person because you're both promising something you can't give."

"So…" Aiden's face was crinkled.

"This is hooking up," Melinda said. "I'll show you. If your daddy and I weren't married and didn't love each other, an awful lot, then this would be hooking up."

With that she turned and, snagging Jim by the neck, pulled him down to her height, pressing her lips against him, immediately forgetting that this was just supposed to be an example.

Jim had taken control and he was very obviously taking this opportunity to vent some of his frustrations with her at the moment, his arms sliding around her and backing her against the counter. She moaned in the back of her throat when his tongue slid into her mouth and he responded with an earthy gasp and by grasping her around the waist.

She found herself trying to hook one leg over his hip, desperately hoping that he lifted her onto the counter so she could wrap her legs around his waist, and that wish was about to come true; his hand was on her ass, sliding over her leg, about to go back to her waist and lift her up.

And then he pulled away, very abruptly ending it, turning very casually back to Aiden.

"That's hooking up," he said. "Or it would be if your mom and I didn't know each, weren't married and didn't love each other."

Aiden's eyes were very wide, just staring. "So...it's doing stuff like that to someone you don't even like?"

"Most of the time," Melinda said, staring up at Jim but he was looking at his son. Her lips felt swollen.

His pants looked tighter. She wondered and hoped that Aiden didn't notice.

"Why?" Aiden asked in horror.

"Exactly," Melinda answered. "Why don't you run upstairs and start getting ready for bed?"

"Okay," he said, backing out of the kitchen.

Jim's shoulders looked almost impossibly wide right now as he walked after Aiden. "I'll get Benny ready," he told her.

"No, wait," she said, feeling so turned on that she almost couldn't stand it.

He turned back, his eyes serious and just a slight smidge of anger still tinging his gaze. "Not while the kids are up," he vowed, his eyes sweeping over her body in a look that made her grab for the counter, knees feeling decidedly weak. He smiled knowingly in reply and she couldn't even summon pride enough to be insulted.

* * *

She found herself hurrying, changing Lee's diaper and settling her into her crib, the baby miraculously sleeping through most of it.

She'd been fed recently and Melinda knew she could count on her to sleep for at least another hour before being hungry again and surely that would be enough time.

Jim was just slipping out of Benny's room and into Aiden's.

Melinda sighed and ducked into Benny's, giving him a kiss good night and telling him that they'd have a lot of fun soon.

She was willing to go to the freaking cabin. She was suddenly dying to. And she knew exactly why.

Jim was coming out of Aiden's room, and he turned his body so that they wouldn't touch each other as they passed unless she lunged at him, so she settled for brushing her hand over his shoulder, hoping she didn't imagine him staring after her as she darted into Aiden's room.

"Good night, Aiden," she said. "Need anything?"

"Nope," he said.

"Your daddy and I have a big surprise for you guys tomorrow," she promised. "It'll be really good, I promise."

"Okay," he said. "Good night. Love you mom."

She leaned to press a kiss to his cheek.

"So...that's not hooking up, right?" Aiden asked, a little worried.

"It's most definitely not," Melinda giggled. "If you love someone, and they know it, and they love you back, it's never hooking up."

She left his bedroom, rubbing her hands nervously up and down her thighs, heading to the bedroom, wondering where Jim would be.

He was just coming out of the bathroom, done brushing his teeth and washing his face, already stripped down for sleep.

Sleep.

And more?

She licked her lips, going to her closet door. "So...I'm ready to talk."

"What if I don't want to talk?" He asked, no sulkiness in his voice, just plain weariness.

"Then I hope you change your mind," she said, unbuttoning her black blouse and jumping a little to hang it over her closet door, revealing a practical but sexy bright blue bra.

She could sense his inhale, the shock that she'd been wearing that earlier.

She wiggled out of her jeans, revealing matching royal blue panties, feeling him watching her, before clearing his throat and turning away, pulling the blankets back on the bed.

Oh, no, she couldn't let him play that card.

"I'm sorry," she said, propping hands on her hips. "For reacting as I did."

"Maybe you're right," he said. "It was rude of me to assume that you could just clear your schedule."

She huffed. "No, it was right, because if I hadn't...I was already in a bad mood and now I think it's a great idea, and Aiden and Benny are going to flip when we tell them. A whole week at a cabin, in the wilderness, it's gotta be their wildest dream. And I can close the shop. Who cares. I don't."

He wasn't looking at her. "Maybe I…" He looked up at her, just in time to see her climb onto the bed, crawling towards him.

"Maybe you what?" She asked, crawling between his legs, her breasts spilling out of the bra, her ass barely covered by the blue low rise panties.

"Um," he said simply, his eyes darting everywhere, desperately trying to find words, to find a place to look that wasn't Melinda.

Her hands crept up his chest, placing them flat over his heart, other hand creeping up on his neck and pulling his gaze to her face.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, and pressed her lips to his.

He remained unresponsive. For about half a second.

His lips moved against hers, his hands falling to her bare waist, holding her there, pulling her nearer to him, pinning her torso against his. She brought her legs up, straddling him, and Jim moaned, hands coming up to unfasten her bra, breaking away from her so he could see when it fell off, eyes darkening and lips forming a mild curse word as she was revealed to him, arching her back and tossing her head to maximize the effect she'd have on him.

"Do you like what you see?" She asked, and his hands came up to cup them, as if awed all over again by their weight.

"Oh, god, Mel," he rasped, and lowered his head to them, making her throw her head back, gasping as he tugged on one tip.

A moment later, and he'd flipped them, pushing her onto her back and pinning her on the bed, mouth still on her breasts, until she moaned much louder, and she could feel his smile against her breast that he'd brought her to that point.

"Sex isn't how married couples should solve problems," he whispered, his hands creeping down her thighs.

"I agree," she gasped, bucking against his touch on her inner thigh.

"We should talk about this," Jim said, letting her slide her hands under his tank top and then whip it over his head.

"We really, really should," she said, kissing down his neck and onto his chest, finding the flat nipples on his chest and bringing one into her mouth.

Jim moaned at the touch, a moan that grew louder when her hands found his waistband and carefully started edging his pants down his hips.

"I need an explanation," he grunted, gasping when she palmed him, taking him into her hands. "I think I deserve one."

"You might get one if you just shut up for now," she panted, as his lips found her neck again, sucking at the skin there. Oh yes. Oh yes please.

"I might say the same thing to you," he said, kicking out of his pants the rest of the way, naked and free before her.

She licked her lips, staring up at him, and his hands fell to the blue fabric at her hips. He edged them down slowly and painstakingl, his hands on the outside of her thighs only making her more sensitive and needy.

Oh god, she needed him inside her.

She mewled, arching her hips into his touch, moaning when he finally dipped a finger inside her, pushing herself into his touch, begging for more.

"I need you," she gasped.

"You're so ready," he gasped. "So quickly. You aren't usually this…"

His voice trailed off when she arched her hips toward his.

"Please, inside me," she managed to say. "Before Lee wakes up."

He grinned, his fingers still inside her, still toying with her. 'Are you sure?" He asked, finding her clit and rubbing it.

She clenched her mouth shut against a scream. "Please," she gasped.

He withdrew his fingers and slowly sheathed himself in her, having fully entered her before he grunted, moving within her, and then just stopped.

"No condom," he whispered. "I forgot, I'm—"

"It doesn't matter," she gasped, moving so that he moved in return, moaning low in his throat. "Jim, I'm already pregnant."

The mood in the bedroom changed, and Jim was even more still.

She moved beneath him, trying to bring him back to her, and he did, gasping a little, shifting inside her; she felt like he'd gotten bigger, harder, and moaned loudly to feel him swell so while within her.

"I'm so close," she whispered, pleaded.

He just nodded, getting closer, bringing her to the edge and then coming himself, until they were both spent, lying tangled up in each other's arms.

"You're pregnant," he said.

"I just found out today," she said. "And I was...stressed about it and I've been thinking all day and I'm still not sure...when I would have conceived."

She pulled his head nearer, until she could feel his breath in the crook of her neck, pressing a kiss to the side of his head. "I was scared," she whispered. "Lee's so young and I...I don't know. Four kids is a big thought."

"And then?" He asked, raising his head to look her in the eye.

"And then you came in and were so excited and I just got mad at you for not knowing even though...I didn't even know," she whispered.

"How long?" He asked.

"It could be three months," she said, feeling her cheeks heat a little. "I think we've been careful, there's only one night that I can remember."

He nodded, his face close to hers. "You didn't notice missing your periods?" He whispered.

"Did you?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Fair enough."

"Lee's been taking up so much time, and the shop," Melinda said. "And I was just distracted and maybe I realized it had been a while but I thought it was stress or that I'm still mainly breastfeeding her."

She licked her lips again, turning her head to see his face. "Are you mad?" She asked. "Or not mad. Worried?"

"Shocked, I'll give you," he said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "But not even shocked. We're married, we're not always careful." He grinned, kissing her again. "And joyful. I can't believe it. I'm going to be a dad again." His eyes were alight with wonder and he spread his hand over her stomach, eyes darkening a little, and bracing his weight with his other hand so he could shift down and kiss her still flat stomach. "I love you," he whispered, lips hot against her skin. "And you," he said, pressing another kiss to her stomach.

She laughed out loud, not worried at all anymore. Not at all.

His lips moved lazily back up her body, until they reached her lips, and his arms snaked around her, pulling her onto her side and pressing her into him.

"What night?" He whispered, pulling back.

She blushed. "Well, the nearest I can figure is…"


End file.
